Monthly Archives: December 2011

“Kill your darlings.” It’s attributed to Virginia Woolf, but someone else said it. She just lived by it. In a draft or two, I’m hoping to follow her example. I’m currently lighting votive candles at the altar of St. Virginia … Continue reading →

Before I was a writer, I was (and still am) a visual artist. I could draw before I could talk; in fact, my parents were more than a little worried because that began very late, between three and four. (“And … Continue reading →

On break from the day job, so I have been getting caught up on my reading. No hope of that, but we do it anyway. It’s like trying to swim the Pacific Ocean. That list includes nonfiction sources for this … Continue reading →

They warned us, of course. Finish the novel in November. Use that last crazy burst of energy to get it all down, and fix it up later. I’m still finishing it. There is one chapter that needs rewriting into an … Continue reading →

They were apprentice wizards, the three of them, with a penchant for clever hackery. Bertie had sent the three of them to Annie, saying, “She’s an engineer. She could tell you about flying.” She had meant to tell them that … Continue reading →

I am currently beta-reading a number of first-draft novel manuscripts. Over the last three years of National Novel Writing Month, I have been privileged to acquire a small group of first-draft beta-reading friends. Those relationships have grown slowly, out of … Continue reading →

From long experience, I know that I get things done, however ambitious my lists of things to do. However, hardly ever do I get them done on the original timeline. As I’m looking at the missing pieces of this year’s … Continue reading →